


Like Crushing Flowers

by UnluckyAmulet



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Mild Angst, Mild Fluff, Pining, Reader-Insert, Secret Crush, Sylvain needs a hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-14
Updated: 2020-03-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:35:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23134765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnluckyAmulet/pseuds/UnluckyAmulet
Summary: You're just his friend, but you want to be so much more than that...
Relationships: Sylvain Jose Gautier/Reader
Comments: 4
Kudos: 127





	Like Crushing Flowers

“Jeez. This looks bad, Sylvain.”

“Eh. I’ve had worse,” Sylvain says, easy-going as always. “Anyway, I probably deserved it.”

You purse your lips but don’t say anything. You know that a lot of people would agree with Sylvain’s assessment – he deserves what he gets. Always playing with the hearts of girls, only to carelessly crush them the next minute. His skirt-chasing antics are legendary. So, nobody thinks twice about it when it gets him a punch in the face or worse.

But does that make it okay? Does anybody ever stop to wonder why Sylvain does what he does or approach him with anything other than hostility and disgust over it?

You’d be a liar if you didn’t have conflicted feelings about Sylvain. It’s not that you condone what he does. He can be insensitive and overly laid back, and his friends are always quick to point that out.

But…

You’ve seen sides to Sylvain that are pretty special. He might be a player, but he can be kind when he tries. Actually, it doesn’t even seem to be an effort for him to be friendly. You remember vividly when you first met, because you had been so nervous you were when you first came to Garrag Mach, and you’d been homesick something awful. The Mess Hall had been vaguely terrifying to you – so many strangers. You’d almost turned right around and ran back out without eating anything.

That was, until Sylvain approached you.

_“Hey there, cutie.” He’d greeted you with that typical grin on his face he always wore when talking to girls. “Are you okay? Forgive me for saying so, but you look a little bit lost.”_

_“Oh! Uh, well, yeah, I am…” you admitted, a bit flustered. What? He was gorgeous! “I’m not sure where I’m supposed to sit.”_

_“Well, hey, why don’t you come sit with me?” he asked. “I’m Sylvain, by the way. Sylvain Gautier.”_

_The name didn’t register to you at all then – he could have probably told you he was the reincarnation of the Goddess Sothis and you would have been too anxious to really register. You instead introduced yourself._

_“That’s certainly a pretty name,” Sylvain nodded with a smile. “It suits you. Well then, shall we?”_

_And that had been that. He’d flirted with you a lot that day, of course, but upon seeing how nervous you were, he’s instead set about putting you at ease by goofing around and making you laugh. You’d never forgotten that, and you remembered at the time being flattered that a noble like Sylvain was putting so much effort into talking to you._

Of course, now you knew that Sylvain could no more resist talking to a girl than a fox can resist a coop full of chickens.

But that day had cemented something for the both of you. Sylvain still flirted with you, of course, but it was like breathing to him – he’d never made a sincere effort to seduce you.

Yet still, sometimes even just being around him breaks your heart.

“Hey, you don’t need to fuss over me,” Sylvain says, but his voice is still playful and he winks. “Not that I’m not enjoying it, though…”

You snorted quietly as you worked ointment into the mark just underneath his eye.

“Shut up, Sylvain. You know this is preferable to having to show your face to Professor Manuela.”

Sylvain makes a face, then winces as it agitates the bruising.

“Yeah, you’re not wrong about that,” he said, ruefully. “I really don’t need any more ‘I told you so’ right now.”

You can’t help but feel a little smug you didn’t say that, not once.

“Yeah, plus, how are you supposed to get any flirting down with that pretty face all bashed up?” you teased.

“Very funny,” Sylvain replied, but he was smiling. “Why’re you so good to me, huh?”

“That should do it,” you say quickly, screwing the cap back onto the ointment and taking a moment to hide your face as you pretend to concentrate on what you’re doing. “Leave that on overnight and you should be good to go.”

“Got it,” Sylvain nodded, red hair bounding gently with the movement, watching you as you put the ointment back into one of the little pouches you had on your belt. “How come you just so happened to be carrying that stuff on you, anyway?”

You rolled your eyes, though at yourself, not at him.

“You’ve seen how clumsy I am, right? Trust me, this stuff has been a godsend in the past. It took a few tries to get it right, though. But I guess I definitely had plenty of opportunities to test it out.”

“Wait, you made this?” Sylvain asks, pointing to the salve now lightly coating his cheek.

“Hmm? Oh, yeah, I did.” You say, distractedly, as you button up the pouch.

“That’s amazing!” Sylvain says, his eyes bright, the enthusiasm catching you off guard. “Man, some people spend years perfecting this stuff, but here you are with your own recipe already. Plus, yours even smells nice!”

“Ah, well, thanks!” you answer, trying to sound casual and not blush at the compliment, though that’s easier said than done. “I crushed flower petals into it, they give off the aroma without ruining the healing properties.”

“You’ll have to make me a batch of this stuff,” Sylvain grins. “For situations like this.”

Or you could just stop dating girls you don’t love.

“I’d pay you back, of course,” Sylvain adds, misinterpreting your silence. “With dinner, maybe?”

Your heart does this stupid little jerk in your chest. Does he know about the way you think about him? Does he know what his words do to you? Or are they just empty words?

“Hmm,” is what you say, though a smile tugs at your lips anyway. Sylvain has this strange ability to charm you, even when you know better. It’s not just you, either – he has a certain magnetism to him that even his childhood friends can’t completely ignore. “Maybe.”

“Ooh, a tough sell,” Sylvain laughs, straightening up to his full height. “Alright, alright! But seriously, I do owe you one. If you think of a way for me to pay you back, you just say the word.”

A thousand thoughts flood your mind then, like a buzzing beehive and you bit down on your bottom lip.

“Alright, sure thing,” you say, nodding. “I’ll hold you to that.”

“Alright then,” Sylvain says, then he sighs as he remembers something. “But I’d better get back or His Highness will get mad at me again. See you later, cutie!”

He gives one of those flirty grins and a wave, before disappearing down the corridor. You watch him go and try to ignore the word ‘cutie’ ringing in your ears. You know it’s just in his nature to say sweet nothings like that, he just meant it in a friendly way…but your stupid heart doesn’t listen. It thuds hard in your chest as you walk back to your own quarters, like a drumbeat. You can feel the ointment bouncing against your hip, but unfortunately, you know it won’t do anything for this kind of hurt.

Yes. You are good to Sylvain, because you know he needs it – you know that despite his friendliness, the teasing and the light heartedness, there are burdens weighing him down that you don’t yet understand and hope you can be there for him one day, when he wants to tell you about them.

You want to be more than just his friend. But that will probably drive him away for good. You know that, which is why you do your best to ignore the way you feel about him and only really let yourself think about it when you’re alone.

…but you still hope one day, just maybe, there’s a way through this that doesn’t end in a heartbreak somewhere.

With that in mind, you shut the curtains. Time to put yourself – and these crazy hopes of yours – to bed. At least for now.

**Author's Note:**

> I will very probably write more to this. I really love Sylvain.


End file.
